Manic Knitting

So last night I met up with Leslie at Fiber Arts in Odessa and knit on the first square for a Lizard Ridge afghan from the Fall '06 Knitty. Went well except I do believe it might have to be frogged back as I missed knitting one or two wrapped stitches. But one of primary reasons for going to the store other than to meet up with Leslie was to pick up yarn for my step-daughter Erin's birthday gift. I decided to knit her the Karaoke cable scarf on kpixie. Didn't like any of the Karaoke colorways that they had and so went with tried and true Malabrigo. I originally had some of the Alpine but Leslie brought me over to the bin that had Velvet Grapes and everyone heard me SQUEE across the store. Of course as soon as I got home I put the skein of the swift, cast one and got about 3 inches done. Plenty of time to get to 60 inches before April 8th!

Socking Around

Lots of sock progress made over the last week. First up...I'm unveiling my Springtime in Paris sock, which is the Six Sock pattern for Feb/March. It is my first toe up that I started with an interesting cast on technique using an I-cord and also first time with Magic Loop. Yarn is STR Star Sapphire in medium weight on Addi size 0 (47"). I had to frog twice because they were too large so I first went down from a size #1 and being that they were still too large...60 stitches instead of 72. I also changed in up by doing a short row heel instead of a gusset.



Next up...Bloomin' Feet II, I finished 7" worth of the pattern for the leg of the Rockin Star with Black Bunny and also changed the heel on this pattern as well. I have always wanted to do Eye of the Partridge and so I did. Couple more rows and I will turn the heel!



And last but not least, the first sock kit from Socks that Rock for the Rockin' Sock Club 2007... The Inside Out pattern in the Monsoon colorway (medium weight). Another toe-up pattern that I cast on with the only other size 0 needles that I had...double-pointeds in rosewood...3 are now currently snapped in half. I'm hoping that my shipment from KnitPicks with some of their small size double pointeds, as well as sets of 2 circulars will show up on my doorstep tomorrow. The fun part about working of these is that I did so in the company of two local knitters that I met online thru the club's blog...Leslie at Ablossomknits and Christine at Threedogknits. It is definitely a new knitting experience to knit with people who get it and are excited to learn about new blogs, new stores, and new techniques as yours truly. We will definitely be getting together again soon and hopefully with some others in the Tampa Bay area who could not make it out Saturday afternoon. Thanks ladies for such an enjoyable afternoon!



And lastly a parting shot of my family of socks in progress.

15 Years of Wedded Bliss

Fifteen years ago today I married my best friend. We decided that since he wouldn't be home till late that we would celebrate tomorrow with a nice dinner out just the two of us...a restaurant in town that we haven't tried. And then Saturday night dinner with my parents and E at Catch 23, which we have always wanted to try and never got around to visiting.



And so we are still together despite all the yarn around the house including today's package from Scout...the last Indie swag featuring an exclusive Kate Gilbert pattern and Scout's yarn named Marina Piccola.

Read like the wind

Beside knitting, my next favorite hobby is reading. I have been keeping a book journal for the past 8 years and my goal every year is to read 60 books. I have come close but never achieved it...hopefully this year.

And here are the books currently on my nightstand with my new fav, "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak. When I finish this book, next on the list is the book below and so on.




So with the mention of all this reading I thought that I would take this opportunity to share a list that I recently saw over at MissyJoon's blog.


Look at the list of books below:
* Bold the ones you’ve read,
* Italicize the ones you want to read
* Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in.

1. The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee) - I just read this finally last month as well as the unauthorized bio of Lee called "Mockingbird"
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell) read it for the first time when I was 12
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. The Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger) loved this one! and so did my book club 2 years ago
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According to Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

Told you I read a lot.

%$#@&**!!!!

Drat! Double drat! I wasn't one of the lottery winners for round II of Scout's Indie Swag! So I'm hoping that someone changed their mind and doesn't follow through on their invoice by tomorrow afternoon and then...there will be another lottery courtesy of Adam.

Yet I do have a plan B, because after all sock yarn doesn't count for the Stash Diet...Sundara's Petal Sock Collection (thanks for the reminder Leslie!). I have never worked with Sundara's Yarn but have heard great things about it and have always wanted to try some.

Bloomin' Feet II Update

Gosh...I hadn't realized that it had been so long since my last post. Bad blooger!

So Bloomin' Feet II Update...when last I wrote I had plans to knit the Iris Garden Socks, which is an ole Six Sock pattern. Well Magic Loop was a snap to pick up and I already have done my fair share of stranded knitting. I just didn't like to color combo so after 3 froggs I ditched the pattern but decided to keep the Black Bunny Fiber yarn. The search began for a new pattern and Eurecka (since I really wanted to knit up something unique for my Bloomin' Feet pal) I chose the Rock the Stars pattern that was created by Glampyre Knits exclusively for Scout's Indie Swag club. The pattern is super easy to memorize and I'm cruising along...considering I only started yesterday afternoon (I was able to sneak in the knitting with the very sharp Knit Options needles to an Arena football game last nite). It is also my first sock knitting on 2 circulars...love it!




Note: I adore the Go Knit bag...I've had it since last month and I first used it to bring to the game. NO DROP BALL OF YARN! Gonna have to get the middle and large sizes as soon as they are back in Scout's shop!